Thursday, September 16, 2010

To Treadle or Not to Treadle?

In a previous post, I told you all about the machine that I can borrow from the school where my husband is teaching at, right? I was told, "it is in a closet." Well, apparently "closet" actually translates to a "cabinet", in this instance. I was prepared for some 1970's or 80's machine covered with dust languishing in the back of a closet, but instead what I was brought to was a 1930's (possibly younger/older?) Singer (prounced Sin-jer) treadle machine. Imagine my surprise, especially with these images so fresh in my mind.
Now, here I am at a dilemma. It is going to be a "borrowed" machine, and keep in mind I have never worked with a treadle before. I was told that I could try it out before they moved it to our apartment (which they didn't seem too excited about), but I have some questions for those who are treadle-adept:

The owner made it sound like I can only practice at the school, which gives me a small window. Can one quickly get a feel of the treadle in a short amount of time (say a ten to fifteen minute trial), at least enough to know I am going to like using it? Or is that insane? Will this take months to get used to?

As I said before this is "borrowed", so how likely are things to go wrong? All I can imagine is me somehow breaking the needle and/or belt, and are these things fixable by me? And is that the worst case scenario?

I know there are those out there that love their treadles...what is it that makes it so mesmerizing?

My husband has still offered to buy a new machine for me, should I just take that and leave the treadle back in it's "closet"?

1 comment:

If I were you I'd leave that machine in its closet. Granted vintage machines are some of the best out there they last forever, but you can find them for fairly cheap on craiglist and the newer machines today jut can't handle what vintage ones can